Editing Claiborne County, Tennessee (section)

==History==
Claiborne County was established on October 29, 1801, created from Grainger and Hawkins counties and extended the southern boundary to [[Anderson County, Tennessee|Anderson County]].   It was named for [[Virginia]] tidewater aristocrat [[William C. C. Claiborne]], one of the first judges of the [[Tennessee Supreme Court|Tennessee Superior Court]] and one of the first representatives in [[U.S. Congress]] from Tennessee.<ref name="BlueBook names">[http://www.state.tn.us/sos/bluebook/05-06/44-counties.pdf Origins Of Tennessee County Names], ''[[Tennessee Blue Book]]'' 2005-2006, page 509</ref>

Like a few other East Tennessee counties, Claiborne County was largely opposed to secession on the eve of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, the county's residents voted against secession by a margin of 1,243 to 250.<ref>Oliver Perry Temple, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=g8xYAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22The+detailed+vote+of+the+several+counties+was+as+follows%22&pg=PA199 East Tennessee and the Civil War]'' (R. Clarke Company, 1899), p. 199.</ref>

The Four Seasons Hotel was built on the location of present-day [[Lincoln Memorial University]] in 1892 by an English land company, the American Association Limited, which was led locally by flamboyant businessman [[Alexander Arthur]]. At the time, it was reported by its promoters to be the largest hotel in the United States. The main building was four stories high with a lobby 75 feet square and a dining room 50 feet by 160 feet. It was reported to contain 700 rooms. Also included in the complex were a hospital, an inn, a sanitarium, and other smaller buildings. The hotel was not a success and was demolished in 1895. During its operation, the Four Seasons Hotel offered buggy rides to nearby English Cave, which had been improved with wooden stairways, walkways, and bridges. The rotting remains of these wooden structures can still be seen in the cave.<ref>Larry E. Matthews, ''Caves of Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains'', 2008, Published by the National Speleological Society, {{ISBN|978-1-879961-30-2}}, Chapter 2 - English Cave, pages 37–46.</ref>